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Outputs (24)

Financial geography I: The state-finance nexus (2023)
Journal Article
Lai, K. P. (2023). Financial geography I: The state-finance nexus. Progress in Human Geography, 47(4), 591-603. https://doi.org/10.1177/03091325231170756

In the first of my reports on financial geography, I focus on a growing body of work that engages with the state as a vital and strategic actor in financial markets and in the global economy. After the 2008 global financial crisis, austerity measures... Read More about Financial geography I: The state-finance nexus.

The brokerage role of Hong Kong in global financial networks: the case of mainland Chinese companies’ US Listings (2022)
Journal Article
Fang, C., Pan, F., & Lai, K. P. (2023). The brokerage role of Hong Kong in global financial networks: the case of mainland Chinese companies’ US Listings. Regional Studies, 57(2), 317-329. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2022.2099822

This paper explores the prominent and enduring brokerage role of Hong Kong in facilitating mainland Chinese companies’ US listings. We argue the brokerage role needs to be interpreted in both global and territorial dimensions. Situating Hong Kong in... Read More about The brokerage role of Hong Kong in global financial networks: the case of mainland Chinese companies’ US Listings.

Financial Geography (2022)
Book Chapter
Lai, K. P. (2022). Financial Geography. In D. Richardson, N. Castree, M. Goodchild, A. Kobayashi, W. Liu, & R. Marston (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment and Technology. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg0656.pub2

Financial geography is concerned with the roles of finance, money, and markets in the restructuring of contemporary capitalism, and how these changes have uneven impacts across space. Studies focus on the ways in which space and place are mobilized i... Read More about Financial Geography.

Ecologies of green finance: Green sukuk and development of green Islamic finance in Malaysia (2021)
Journal Article
Liu, F. H., & Lai, K. P. (2021). Ecologies of green finance: Green sukuk and development of green Islamic finance in Malaysia. Environment and Planning A, 53(8), 1896-1914. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518x211038349

In this paper, we analyse the recent development of green sukuk (often referred to as an Islamic green bond) since its issuance in Malaysia in 2017, and critically evaluate whether it addresses some of the existing contradictions of green finance. Us... Read More about Ecologies of green finance: Green sukuk and development of green Islamic finance in Malaysia.

FinTech: The dis/re-intermediation of finance? (2020)
Book Chapter
Lai, K. P. (2020). FinTech: The dis/re-intermediation of finance?. In J. Knox-Hayes, & D. Wójcik (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Financial Geography (440-458). Routledge

FinTech encompasses a new wave of companies developing new products and platforms to change the way businesses and consumers make payments, lend, borrow and invest. This chapter examines the ways in which FinTech products and services are reshaping t... Read More about FinTech: The dis/re-intermediation of finance?.

Towards an economic geography of FinTech (2020)
Journal Article
Lai, K. P., & Samers, M. (2021). Towards an economic geography of FinTech. Progress in Human Geography, 45(4), 720-739. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132520938461

n this paper, we identify the ways in which the existing literature has examined financial technology (FinTech). Using the frame of the ‘FinTech Cube’, we examine how FinTech unfolds through the intersections of key actors, technologies and instituti... Read More about Towards an economic geography of FinTech.

Financing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): research agendas beyond the “debt-trap” discourse (2020)
Journal Article
Lai, K. P., Lin, S., & Sidaway, J. D. (2020). Financing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): research agendas beyond the “debt-trap” discourse. Eurasian Geography and Economics, 61(2), 109-124. https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2020.1726787

By way of introduction to the four papers that follow, we chart some key parameters of debate about finance and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In particular, we argue that the rise of discourses about “predatory lending” and “debt trap” (that fe... Read More about Financing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): research agendas beyond the “debt-trap” discourse.

New Financial Geographies of Asia (2019)
Journal Article
Lai, K. P., Pan, F., Sokol, M., & Wójcik, D. (2020). New Financial Geographies of Asia. Regional Studies, 54(2), 143-148. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2019.1689549

This special issue examines the recent trends and impacts of financial development in Asia and its implications for regional studies in this rapidly growing region. This editorial introduces the dynamics of the financial landscape in Asia and its gro... Read More about New Financial Geographies of Asia.

How 'global' are investment banks? An analysis of investment banking networks in Asian equity capital markets (2019)
Journal Article
Gemici, K., & Lai, K. P. (2020). How 'global' are investment banks? An analysis of investment banking networks in Asian equity capital markets. Regional Studies, 54(2), 149-161. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2019.1584393

This paper examines the distribution of power within financial networks of investment banks in equity capital markets of three key economies in Asia: Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. Using social network analysis, it shows that while bulge-bracket ban... Read More about How 'global' are investment banks? An analysis of investment banking networks in Asian equity capital markets.

Agency, power, and state-firm relations in global financial networks (2018)
Journal Article
Lai, K. P. (2018). Agency, power, and state-firm relations in global financial networks. Dialogues in Human Geography, 8(3), 285-288. https://doi.org/10.1177/2043820618797463

In response to Töpfer’s incisive critique of how current work on global production networks and global financial networks (GFNs) have been too firm-centric and reliant on neoliberal market framings, this commentary highlights three key points for dev... Read More about Agency, power, and state-firm relations in global financial networks.

Singapore: Connecting Asian markets with global finance (2018)
Book Chapter
Lai, K. P. (2018). Singapore: Connecting Asian markets with global finance. In Y. Cassis, & D. Wojcik (Eds.), International Financial Centres: After the Global Financial Crisis and Brexit (154-181). Oxford University Press

Brexit and shifting geographies of financial centres in Asia (2018)
Journal Article
Lai, K. P., & Pan, F. (2021). Brexit and shifting geographies of financial centres in Asia. Geoforum, 125, 201-202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2018.02.004

Brexit could have profound impacts on the global financial landscape, as the global economy and financial markets are increasingly inter-connected. London’s role as the top international financial centre in Europe could be threatened due to the uncer... Read More about Brexit and shifting geographies of financial centres in Asia.

Financialisation of everyday life (2018)
Book Chapter
Lai, K. P. (2018). Financialisation of everyday life. In G. L. Clark, M. P. Feldmann, M. Gertler, & D. Wojcik (Eds.), The new Oxford handbook of economic geography (611-627). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198755609.013.29

Over the past few decades, there has been a broad expansion of financial power in which the biopolitical terrain of individual subjectivity, aspiration and forms of conduct at an individual level is increasingly tied to global financial structures. T... Read More about Financialisation of everyday life.

Conceptualizing Islamic banking and finance: a comparison of its development and governance in Malaysia and Singapore (2016)
Journal Article
Lai, K. P., & Samers, M. (2016). Conceptualizing Islamic banking and finance: a comparison of its development and governance in Malaysia and Singapore. The Pacific Review, 30(3), 405-424. https://doi.org/10.1080/09512748.2016.1264455

In response to the limited engagement with critical social science concerning the governance of Islamic banking and finance (IBF), this paper compares and conceptualizes the development and governance of IBF in Malaysia and Singapore. We argue that I... Read More about Conceptualizing Islamic banking and finance: a comparison of its development and governance in Malaysia and Singapore.